Core Values, Part 2: Better Christians
I've been thinking a lot about how I would approach this core value. It sounds so simple doesn't it...Better Christians. I think that a lot of Biblical teachings need to have the phrase simply complicated attached to them. On the surface they really seem to be a fairly simple idea...but as we delve into the depths of what these ideas really mean we quickly come to see the complexity of their design.
Better Christians. I think to understand this we need to be together on what the term Christian is talking about. I was interested to find out that the term Christian is only used in Scripture three times but that the term disciple is used about 270 times! There is no mistaking this concept as we look closer at the life of Jesus (I almost said "life and ministry of Jesus" but really those two things can't be separated).
Let's think our modern day idea of the term Christian. What comes to mind? Is it something that looks like the majority of the people in our churches...something that evokes the idea of Sunday worship? Maybe you think about a coat and tie...sermons...Sunday School. Maybe you think about something completely different, something you are hungry for. Maybe you think about someone who is radically transformed.
As we think about a follower of Christ, a disciple, we need to understand what that term meant in Biblical times...what the term disciple meant in Jewish culture. I've come across a great resource to help us with that, if you're interested. There's an interactive "guide" on followtherabbi.com which talks about the relationship between a rabbi and his talmidim. I hope it will not only be insightful "educationally" but that it will also give you a clearer understanding of how Jesus viewed and used the term disciple as we read it through the Gospels and New Testament, generally.
This idea of talmidim can be mind-blowing when we compare that picture to the concept of Christianity as seen in many churches today. The whole goal...again, the whole goal of the talmid was to imitate everything that his rabbi did. He would follow the rabbi, as closely as possible, everywhere the rabbi led, trying to learn his ways so that the talmid could then imitate them himself. Ultimately the talmid would be given the responsibility for discipling new talmidim so that they also would know the ways of the rabbi...that they would come to imitate him and lead others to follow his ways as well.
We don't see the use of the word "talmid" in the New Testament as it is Hebrew. The Greek equivalent is the word mathetes. With some exceptions it is the word which appears when you read the word "disciple" in the NT. A word which is associated with it is mimetes, meaning follower or imitator. Mimetes is the word used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:1 where he says:
Maybe it's possible that we not only need a revolution in our concept of Christian but also in our concept of discipleship. We are called to make talmidim. Just as Paul was setting himself up as an example for others to follow, we need to be doing the same. And catch this, he was not telling them to follow him...to become more like him (period). He was doing that because he saw himself as a shadow of Christ! Follow me...become more like me, the person you see standing in front of you...and you will become more like Him!
Often we have come to place our focus on making Christians...filling church buildings...spreading the seeds of truth and hoping that they take at least enough root so that someone prays a pray. But that is such a small part of the equation. If we are to truly make disciples (and we now are all together on what that means, biblically not just according to me) then we are going to have to fight past the first core value (More Christians) and see the necessity of realizing our second core value, Better Christians.
Better Christians. I think to understand this we need to be together on what the term Christian is talking about. I was interested to find out that the term Christian is only used in Scripture three times but that the term disciple is used about 270 times! There is no mistaking this concept as we look closer at the life of Jesus (I almost said "life and ministry of Jesus" but really those two things can't be separated).
Let's think our modern day idea of the term Christian. What comes to mind? Is it something that looks like the majority of the people in our churches...something that evokes the idea of Sunday worship? Maybe you think about a coat and tie...sermons...Sunday School. Maybe you think about something completely different, something you are hungry for. Maybe you think about someone who is radically transformed.
As we think about a follower of Christ, a disciple, we need to understand what that term meant in Biblical times...what the term disciple meant in Jewish culture. I've come across a great resource to help us with that, if you're interested. There's an interactive "guide" on followtherabbi.com which talks about the relationship between a rabbi and his talmidim. I hope it will not only be insightful "educationally" but that it will also give you a clearer understanding of how Jesus viewed and used the term disciple as we read it through the Gospels and New Testament, generally.
This idea of talmidim can be mind-blowing when we compare that picture to the concept of Christianity as seen in many churches today. The whole goal...again, the whole goal of the talmid was to imitate everything that his rabbi did. He would follow the rabbi, as closely as possible, everywhere the rabbi led, trying to learn his ways so that the talmid could then imitate them himself. Ultimately the talmid would be given the responsibility for discipling new talmidim so that they also would know the ways of the rabbi...that they would come to imitate him and lead others to follow his ways as well.
We don't see the use of the word "talmid" in the New Testament as it is Hebrew. The Greek equivalent is the word mathetes. With some exceptions it is the word which appears when you read the word "disciple" in the NT. A word which is associated with it is mimetes, meaning follower or imitator. Mimetes is the word used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:1 where he says:
Be imitators of me, just as I am of Christ.Paul is saying that we need to follow or imitate everything we have learned from Christ. As Jesus' disciples...as his talmidim (or mathetes, depending on your Biblical language bent) we are to follow him and imitate his every move! Can you imagine what that would look like if we learned to do that better? If we acknowledged our role as Christ followers? If we truly submitted to The Rabbi's authority and lived as he calls us to live?
Maybe it's possible that we not only need a revolution in our concept of Christian but also in our concept of discipleship. We are called to make talmidim. Just as Paul was setting himself up as an example for others to follow, we need to be doing the same. And catch this, he was not telling them to follow him...to become more like him (period). He was doing that because he saw himself as a shadow of Christ! Follow me...become more like me, the person you see standing in front of you...and you will become more like Him!
Often we have come to place our focus on making Christians...filling church buildings...spreading the seeds of truth and hoping that they take at least enough root so that someone prays a pray. But that is such a small part of the equation. If we are to truly make disciples (and we now are all together on what that means, biblically not just according to me) then we are going to have to fight past the first core value (More Christians) and see the necessity of realizing our second core value, Better Christians.
posted by Michael Shattuck at
2:45 AM
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